All About Self Employment

On 3 March 2021, the Chancellor delivered arguably one of the most important budgets in UK’s recent history.  Interestingly, it contradicted many expectations of amendments to self-employed tax and/or NICs, despite numerous rumours of significant changes.  The budget was packed full of new initiatives and we spoke to special guest Angela Ferguson from Saffery Champness to help us navigate the key points, including:

Corporation tax changes

Treatment of losses carry back 3 years

Changes to furlough and the coronavirus job retention scheme

SEISS extended criteria

Restart grants

130% “super-deduction” for investments

About Angela Ferguson

Angela has 20+ years as a tax advisor and is director of employment tax at Saffery Champness where she covers the whole of the UK advising clients across all sectors.  She knows the self-employment sector well, and amongst other things her expertise in IR35 developments has kept her busy advising many firms in relation to compliance with off-payroll legislation.

Contact Details

Website: https://www.saffery.com/our-people/angela-ferguson

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angelajcarter1/

You can’t have missed the fact that the Supreme Court recently concluded that Uber drivers are not self-employed, despite being engaged on that basis, but are actually workers.  This is a very significant judgement which looks set to have wide-ranging implications for the gig economy, so today we’re talking to Lewina Farrell, a solicitor with many years’ experience of employment law, about what exactly it could mean.  We discuss:

Why employment status is important;

What exactly did the Supreme Court decide;

The reasons and evidence for their decision;

Contract terms vs statutory protection;

What next for Uber;

What next for gig economy worker rights.

Lewina brilliantly covers this important and complex subject in plain English, and points out the potential difficulties for Uber and the wider gig economy.  If you’re looking for a straight forward analysis of the case, then you need to listen to this!

About Lewina Farrell

Lewina is a solicitor and was previously Head of Legal Services at a leading professional body for recruitment agencies.  In that role she advised agencies on employment law, general commercial matters, and issues specific to recruitment such as the Agency Workers Regulations.  Lewina was also the lead for IR35 which we have covered in other podcast episodes.  Lewina left that role recently and is in the process of setting up as an independent consultant.

We all know it takes courage to go it alone and set up in business working for yourself, especially if you’ve previously been an employee.  But what if you’re an introvert, does that affect your ability to go freelance and succeed?  To find out more, we chat to Caroline Joynson, a self-confessed introvert, about her experience of setting up her freelance PR business some 7 years ago.  Not only did she work in an extrovert’s career, PR, she bravely took the plunge and shares her secrets of success with us.  We talk about:

Having a successful career in PR, a traditionally extrovert sector

The impact of being made redundant from her job

How Caroline decided to go it alone in the first place

How she overcame shyness and top tips for listeners

On meeting Caroline, you would never guess that she was once so shy that she wouldn’t order her own food in a restaurant.  Join us to hear Caroline’s story of overcoming hurdles and successfully working for herself.

About Caroline Joynson

After 20 years in PR, Caroline set up her own business which helps passion-led entrepreneurs with PR, visibility and story-telling so they can stand out from the crowd.  She can help you to get known, get noticed and make a bigger impact.

You can contact Caroline here:

Following on from episode 12 which introduces marketing strategy, today we’re diving into social media, and how on earth to get started with it.  It can be daunting so we’re joined by marketing whizz Amanda Davies, who has over 20 years experience that she shares to help us get started.  We cover all the hot topics including:

What are “stories” and how should you use them

Authenticity and why it matters

How to start creating engaging content

Times of day to post, and has the pandemic changed things

What’s a hashtag and how do they work

This is a brilliant episode that will demystify social media and enable you to start creating relevant content to promote your business.

During the interview, we refer to a free resource, “75 Ideas of Things to Post on Social Media” which can be downloaded here

About Amanda Davies

A freelance marketeer combined with several years experience leading a business makes Amanda the perfect person to give practical advice on effective marketing.  She has a hands-on approach covering all marketing specialties and she is passionate about helping businesses succeed.  You can contact her here:

Have you recently set up your self-employed business and not sure where to start with marketing?  Or perhaps you’ve been going for a while and want to revitalise your approach to marketing?  Then you’ve come to the right place as we’re talking to the brilliant Christina Robinson, MD of marketing agency Green Umbrella, about making your marketing stand out. Today we demystify several key aspects of doing exactly that, so join us to find out more about:

What actually is marketing?

Establishing a personal brand, and what is a personal brand anyway?

The importance of micro-influencer and how to become one

Identifying and targeting your introducers

How much time should you spend on marketing

We exist in a digital world. That means you can now reach out to those prospective clients and customers who may not otherwise even hear of your brand or product.  Of course, the problem is that social media never sleeps and it can be overwhelming to get started.  This episode will enable you to consider what might work for you and your business.

About Christina Robinson

The digital marketing world changes quickly – and that’s why Christina loves it!  There is always something new here or a tweak in an algorithm there, Christina says that one of the best parts of her job is just to try and keep up with it!  You can contact her here:

Did you know that the Sharing Economy is growing rapidly and offers new ways of working and entrepreneurship?  No?  Well, that’s exactly why we decided to dedicate an episode to this exciting and increasingly important sector.  It’s exciting because the possibilities are endless – from unlocking the value of assets (and earning £ from them), to trading of skills, space and materials, to sustainability and connecting with communities.  This all sounds fantastic for entrepreneurs and gig workers alike, so we chatted to Juliet Eccleston, chair of Sharing Economy UK to find out more.

Juliet tells us what exactly the Sharing Economy is and why it is so exciting – the technology, income generation opportunities and ethical sustainability all make this a growth sector.  It has fared well in the pandemic with many sharing economy businesses adapting to specifically support key workers and support their local community, so ensuring essential services continued.

You have probably heard of Airbnb and TaskRabbit, both of which are larger well-established businesses in the sharing economy, but there are many, many more!

The Sharing Economy is growing quickly, and is set to be worth an estimated £140 billion in 2025.  This is probably the tip of the iceberg as there is still so much potential to be unlocked that will bring immense value to the UK’s economy as it recovers post-pandemic.

Join us to find out more!

About Juliet Eccleston

Juliet is Chair of Sharing Economy UK, the trade body for sharing economy businesses throughout the UK, and also founded a very successful business, AnyGood?, which is a sharing platform for professionals to recommend each other to fill vacant roles.  Prior to this, Juliet was a seasoned contractor undertaking roles in many different industries, including financial services, retail and government.  She noticed the recurring theme amongst them is that finding good people at a reasonable price is harder than it needs to be.  Juliet began to see the immense possibilities of collaborative communities and focus on reputation, enabling a new concept to emerge; AnyGood? was borne.

Resources

Sharing Economy UK report report

Sharing Economy UK website

Sharing Economy UK twitter

There are an increasing number of people who are being given an ultimatum to work on a self-employed basis or lose their job, so we’re discussing the legalities of this with employment status specialist Rebecca Seeley Harris.  It is likely that an employer seeking to convert employees to self-employed are doing so to save money, however it brings several risks to the employer if the self-employment is not genuine.  Rebecca talks us through several aspects of the scenario, including:

an employer cannot arbitrarily decide that their staff are now self-employed, and there are risks to that employer if they do so

there are also risks to the newly self-employed worker as they no longer have employment protections (such as NMW, paid holiday etc)

the characteristics of genuine self-employment and how employment status is decided

what action you can take if your boss is forcing you to work self-employed

If you are unsure whether you are genuinely self-employed, or if you are being forced to work as self-employed, then this episode is essential listening.  It’s packed full of lots of useful advice from a leading expert, to enable you to decide what to do about your situation.

About Rebecca Seeley Harris

Rebecca is an employment status specialist, and expert in IR35, off-payroll working and in the employment and tax status of the self-employed, personal service companies and the Gig Economy.  In recent years she was seconded to the Office of Tax Simplification (an independent body of HM Treasury)  as a Senior Policy Adviser to advise the government on employment and tax status.  Reporting direct to the Chancellor, Rebecca was part of a small team of experts who drafted the Employment Status Review 2015, she then continued for several years to advise on the review of Small Company Taxation leading on the taxation of nano companies and the self-employed.

Resources

HMRC’s Check Employment Status for Tax (CEST) Tool

Rebecca’s book that demystifies CEST “CEST Explained” can be downloaded here 

Rebecca’s Employment Status Update, subscribe here 

Briefing Document “What is Working for Yourself” download here

Today we’re privileged to be talking to Paralympian Liz Johnson about disability and the inequitable experience of disabled work-seekers who are often self-employed freelancers.  This is a really eye-opening chat as there are so many things that we ought to be aware of in relation to being inclusive.  We talk about the concept of #oneworkforce which is simply about increasing meaningful work opportunities for everyone, and how this can be achieved.  We discuss normalising difference, not just focussing on one thing at a time but taking a holistic view and being genuinely inclusive.

Many disabled people are self-employed and work freelance as they can control their environment.  Of course, by freelancing they are simply providing a professional service and any impairments are irrelevant as it’s a B2B relationship with whoever is buying their services.  Being engaged on a self-employed basis effectively removes any HR issues, enabling the firm and the individual to just focus on getting the work done.  Furthermore, the pandemic has shown that firms can be productive with a remote workforce, which also removes some barriers to engaging disabled people.

We also discuss Liz’s view on how our perceptions of people with disabilities have changed over the years.  Sport is powerful as everyone can relate to it in some form, and the Paralympics has shown the world what disabled people can achieve.  It should be easy to relate this our everyday world and ensure that everyone has an equitable experience, but that is not happening enough.  We can all drive positive change, listen to this episode to learn how.

About Liz Johnson

Liz is best known as a Paralympian swimmer, she won medals at three Paralympics; gold in Beijing, silver in Athens and bronze in London.  She has also been a World and European champion on multiple occasions. Since her very successful sports career, Liz earned success as a media commentator, public speaker, athlete mentor and community ambassador.

Now Liz is forging a very successful business career as MD of both The Ability People and their app Podium, where she is making a real difference to many people.  The Ability People is a social enterprise dedicated to empowering people with disabilities by helping companies adapt cultures, transforming professional lives and building better brands.  Podium is an online marketplace that connects skilled people with a disability or impairment directly with ambitious employers on a freelance basis and vice versa.

Contact details

In this episode we’re talking to former BBC journalist and TV Presenter, Penny Haslam, about how to get yourself out there.  Once you’ve set up your self-employed business you probably want it to be known and trusted, and building your own profile is one way to do that.  But it isn’t easy to have the confidence to get yourself out there, and that is why I wanted to talk to Penny, to share her ideas and experience of what works.

We all need confidence in what we’re doing, it helps you to play big in the world, walk tall, say what you mean and overcome imposter syndrome.  But it can be difficult to have that unwavering faith in yourself and deal with negative self-talk which trips most of us up regularly.  Let this episode help you change the script, literally.  Join us to learn about the principles you can use to get yourself out there, and enjoy doing it!

About Penny

Penny Haslam is a former BBC business journalist, who was a regular presenter on national television and radio – her credits include BBC Breakfast, News Channel, Panorama, Radio 4 and Radio 5Live. As well as coaching and training clients of Bit Famous, she is a professional motivational speaker on the topics of visibility and confidence. Penny is the author of the business book Make Yourself a Little Bit Famous

Contact Penny

Twitter: @PennyHaslam

Linkedin: pennyhaslam

Facebook: pennyhaslam

Today we’re talking to Emily Coltman, Chief Accountant at FreeAgent about completing your annual self-assessment tax return.  Emily has many years experience of supporting self-employed people and small businesses in their accountancy requirements, and she shares with us some of her advice, hints and tips for completing your self-assessment, including:

What actually is self-assessment?

What are the common pitfalls?

Complexities of business costs and ensuring that they are genuine business costs

What are the common tax reliefs you can claim

About Emily Coltman

Emily Coltman is a very unusual Chartered Accountant – she speaks plain English as well as accounting-speak!  After graduating from the University of Cambridge, she trained and qualified with growing accountancy practice Cannon Moorcroft, where she looked after accounts and tax for a portfolio of micro-business clients.  She has run her own business and is now Chief Accountant at FreeAgent, where she works with worldwide small businesses to help them use this simple online accounting system to keep their books in real time.

Emily is passionate about helping the owners of small and growing businesses to escape their fear of “the numbers”, and believes that, with the right tools and guidance absolutely anyone, even if they were hopeless at maths at school, can learn to look after the finances of a small business.

Contact details

Emily on Twitter: @dialm4accounts

FreeAgent: @freeagent

FreeAgent website